Agilent to split into two companies

[Mike O'Dell]

from everything I've seen, the new Agilent "inexpensive" line
of Scopes are excellent value with very impressive specs
(software upgradeable, too), althought they are hardly "budget"
the way those of us without project charge numbers think of it.
Rigol used to build the low-end Agilent scopes before they took
it back in-house, but the new Rigols are impressive value as well,
and in general cheaper in absolute dollars, too.

while the USB2-based "headless test equipment" has failed to
reach the bar in most cases (although not all), the advent of
USB3 to enable some real data transfer between a gut-bucket
and a "display head thing" may finally get us over the hump.
more and more devices are degenerating to a combination of
DC-daylight (pre)amps, A/D & D/A converters, NCOs, Mixers,
filters, and FPGAs.

btw - I just saw a presentation of an "interference canceller"
which will allow a cellphone to do both uplink and
downlink *in the same band*. it can withstand up to 30-odd dBm
on the TX input while removing the signal from the RX path. 
they have prototypes, or so it's claimed.

if you haven't looked at the LTE worldwide "band plan"
you're in for a "treat". from 700MHz to 3.5GHz in twenty
something different slices o' the pie. a genuine "world LTE phone"
is not something anyone will be able to say with a straight 
face any time soon.

     -mo